Terminal
by AlykeV
Summary: Chloe Bourgeois pretended to be many things. A brat, a superhero, a girl who didn't care about anyone else, but under the facade she was being crushed under a label she had been living with for about 6 months, and one she would have for no more than 2 more years. Chloe Bourgeois was terminal, and no matter what it cost her, nobody was going to miss her when she was gone.


Most people hated Chloe Bourgeois, and she knew it. In fact, she reveled in it. It went to show that there was still some hope for the world after all.

Most people would be surprised to hear that Chloe's terrible attitude and seeming self-sabotage in various social groups was fully intentional, and she intended to keep it that way. After all, if they knew why she was doing it all of that effort she had put into her carefully crafted brat persona would go to waste.

Chloe Bourgeois, as it were, was not a superhero. Though she daydreamed that the whole reason she'd become such a brat was so nobody would recognize her selflessness, dancing around with her best friend Sabrina as they played pretend at saving paris, it was nothing so noble as all of that.

Chloe stood in the bathroom, her father coming up behind her and resting a comforting hand on her shoulder once again. Very few people were aware that her room in his hotel had as much equipment as the finest hospitals, and many of the same minds to boot. Out of those who knew, only a fraction of them were aware that it was the same room her mother had stayed in for the final years of her life. And none of them had ever expressed any hope for her.

Chloe Bourgeois pretended to be many things. A brat, a superhero, a girl who didn't care about anyone else, but under the facade she was being crushed under a label she had been living with for about 6 months, and one she would have for no more than 2 more years.

Chloe Bourgeois was terminal, and no matter what it cost her, nobody was going to miss her when she was gone.

She turned to face her father, noting the exhaustion in his eyes. "Don't worry papa," she said, smiling softly at him. "I'm not in pain. I know you're doing everything you can." Her father met her gaze, a sorrow set in his posture that she knew she couldn't stop no matter how she tried. He had been mourning her for months now, as he had mourned her mother for years prior, and his expression was that of a man hanging on by a thread.

"Everything I can do and more, _Aube_." The nickname, meaning Dawn, slipped from his tongue easily. His daughter was his light and his sunrise, and he would be damned if he ever let her forget it. Her father was more rich than any man had a right to be, and had no need to stay in office apart from his desire to further cancer research. The illness that had taken his wife and was currently killing his daughter was practically cured according to the world, but that would never be enough for Mayor Bourgeois. Not until the cure was 100%, and no more families would have to go through exactly what he was. Not until it had been wiped out entirely.

Chloe smiled at her father once more, before looking at herself in the mirror. She looked exhausted, and had been getting thinner no matter how much she ate. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she never wanted to eat, or that only some of what she did eat stayed down, but her weight loss wasn't going to go unnoticed. She made a note to start wearing padded bras, so she could at least pretend it was an intentional change.

"You have work papa, go. I have to get ready for school anyway." She smiled again, knowing that despite her best efforts she couldn't convince her father it wasn't his fault. She would never be able to convince her father that she was okay, never be able to comfort him the way she had years before when he had given her that nickname. Her father sighed, greif striking his features once again as he walked out the door. He would give her the world on a silver platter as long as he could.

As soon as he was gone, Chloe reached for the foundation on the counter in front of her. She couldn't be healthy, and she couldn't even feign health anymore, but she could distract from it. She already had a reputation for wearing too much makeup at school, heavy eyeshadow on her upper lids distracting from the amount of concealer beneath, lip products carefully layered so nobody would see how dry her lips really were. Highlighter and bronzer applied in all the wrong places, trying to make her face look rounder as though she hadn't lost such a dangerous amount of weight in so short a time, so nobody would realize she had given up hope. And the final product, her hair.

She stuck the wig in place, adjusting it until it looked as natural as it could, then smirked into the mirror. There it was, that was the Chloe Bourgeois everyone knew. That was the Chloe they hated. She wondered if they would celebrate on the day she finally disappeared on them now that she knew it wouldn't be today. As odd as it sounded, she hoped they would. Chloe laughed humorlessly at how cynical she sounded, hoping her classmates would celebrate the day she was no longer among them, but it was true. The world had too many tears already; the last thing it needed was more mourning.

Finally satisfied with her reflection, Chloe set out for school, getting in the white limousine as it pulled out toward the school. Knowing she would see everyone there, knowing that she would be surrounded by enemies and the two classmates who knew she was sick all day, and knowing neither one of them knew her brattiness was just a persona. She gazed at the sun out her window, thinking about Adrien and Sabrina, and smiled. Her time wasn't up just yet.

When the car pulled up to the school she climbed out of it, putting on her haughtiest expression. Seeing Adrien on the steps next to his friend Nino, she grinned. "Adrikins!" she cried, dashing over and throwing her arms around his neck. She would never have a romance with the boy in front of her, even if she wasn't so sick, because she didn't want him to be alone if things didn't work out. Even still, bitterness at the fact that she was no longer his best friend sat unpleasantly at the pit of her stomach as she looked at Nino, despite the gratitude that he would have someone when she was gone. She would never be in love with the boy she greeted so enthusiastically every morning, but she did love him, and everyone else would have to prove to her they could be trusted to stay in his life before she would approve.

The day continued. She met up with Sabrina, the girl enthusiastically giving her her homework. She had started doing it when she realized how much of Chloe's schedule went to her sickness, be it the treatment or trying to pretend it wasn't there at all, and Chloe hadn't protested. She had to admit, it was helpful to have her schedule a little more open, and it gave her more time with her friend. Beyond all of that it seemed to be almost a coping mechanism for Sabrina, knowing she was doing something to help. Some days she thought Sabrina knew she was only pretending to be bratty, but for the most part her friend seemed to chalk it up to the amount of emotional stress she was under. If anyone had an excuse, it was Chloe Bourgeois.

Chloe had begun being rude, at times simply cruel, after she had been diagnosed as terminal. Even still, she couldn't say it was all an act. Her reasons for her actions were false, it's true, but the way she behaved often wasn't. When the class had cleaning duty, Chloe didn't lift a finger to help. It had been not two weeks before that her father had caught her wincing when she bent down to pick something up, and he had expressly forbidden that she do anything physically strenuous. It was why she put up with the car rides, despite the limited number of days she had left in the sun. It seemed to ease his mind that she was taking it easy and doing her best not to push her energy to a point where she could lose it all.

On picture day she did her best to be front and center. Yes, it was to be by Adrien, but it was also from an irrational fear of being forgotten. Chloe didn't want to be missed, she didn't want anybody to cry for her, and she wouldn't be bothered if her grave were never visited, but she didn't want to be forgotten. Chloe didn't want to be forgotten when she was gone, and she wasn't sure if this photo would be her last or not.

When Kim confessed to her, Chloe was shocked. How anyone had fallen for her with the way she had been acting was beyond her, though perhaps people were right when they said confidence was the most attractive trait. She supposed she could have shot him down kindly instead of how she did, claiming to like Adrien as she so often had, but she wanted to be hated. So she made sure she would be.

Offhanded rude comments, sometimes due to habit and other times due to stress, were at their heart to ensure nobody would care when she stopped showing up for school. Putting others down, she reasoned, ensured they would hate her. She didn't want to admit that making everyone else feel like a waste of space made her feel almost like they had equal footing again, like she had a right to breathe in the same space as they occupied. She refused to acknowledge her insecurities or doubts, and she shoved her fears into the deepest hole of the farthest corner of her mind. Chloe Bourgeois was dying, but she wasn't dead. She wouldn't be dead today.

After a brief, yet unpleasant, encounter with Alya and Marinette Chloe looked the shy designer right in the eyes and declared that she would never be with Adrien, because she didn't deserve him. Alya had asked "What is your problem?" while Marinette looked at her shoes, as though she were trying to avoid a confrontation. Alya had asked her "What do you have against Marinette?" and a million thoughts flashed through Chloe's mind.

 _You don't know what it's like to lose someone. You don't know what it's like to have nobody to talk to, or no words to speak to anyone you can. You don't know how much he enjoys puns. You haven't watched any anime or movies with him. You don't know his favorite comic books. You didn't see him growing up as lost and lonely without a mother as I was. You don't see who he is. You only see the selfless model who laughs with his whole heart in it, not the way he laughed for years as though laughing was the only reason he didn't cry. You have no idea how to comfort him when he's sad, or how much he needs to get out of his house. You don't understand._

What she settled on was a scoff, declaring "What don't I have against this commoner?" before marching into the school, wondering if Adrien would ever let someone close enough to his heart to see him the way she had over the years. As she sat at her desk, contemplating the girl's declaration of affection for her friend, she wondered if Adrien would remember her. She wondered if she wanted him to.

She felt like a waste of space so often, other times like a ticking time bomb. She didn't want people to mourn, but she needed companions who didn't hate her while she was still here was well. Sabrina, Adrien, her father… there were only a couple people she wouldn't let hate her. Even still, she knew she didn't have much time left for her.

Her classmates never saw Chloe helping anyone, because she didn't want them to.

It was her attitude that life should be cherished that made her so willing to help strangers when she was certain they would never see her again, like the old man she would never know as Master Fu. It was her knowledge that she didn't have long left that made her so willing to dash into trouble to save those lives she cherished so much. It was her dream of being worth something that would make her such a great superhero when she was given the comb. And it was her willingness, silent though it was, to see good in others that helped her pass the comb on to Sabrina in her will, ensuring her partner heroes in paris wouldn't go short by one. It was her hope that helped her know Sabrina would be a wonderful queen bee after she had passed, knowing that Sabrina would need the new activities and company of her Kwami to help her cope after her best friend left her.

Chloe Bourgeois pretended to be many things; a Superhero, a Brat, selfish, uncaring, and fearless. Chloe Bourgeois had many things; Money, A father who adored her and gave her more than he should, a friend who stuck with her despite knowing she wouldn't be able to forever, a boy she cared about more than almost anything else and who she knew she had no chance with. Chloe Bourgeois felt many things; the value of a life that so many others overlooked, a kinship with those who seemed haunted, fear that she would be forgotten, resignation that she couldn't stop everyone's grief at her sickness no matter how hard she tried, fear that she'd succeed in doing so before she was actually gone.

Chloe Bourgeois was terminal.

...

 **Author's Note:**

Before you ask, yes I just killed Chloe and made you feel sorry for her while doing so.

No, I do not plan on turning this into an extended story. I wanted an explanation other than being spoiled for why Chloe was always so rude, and why her father spoiled her so much, and the angst train hit me on the way.

Feel free to use this AU as much as you like, especially if you can make Chloe seem more human by doing so.

I appreciate reviews and will often use advice I receive in future works even if I don't use it on this story.


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